Yoshida in China: Huawei MIA in Windows Phone 8

What's behind Huawei's no-show at the Windows Phone 8 announcement, and Microsoft's waning appetite for the Japanese market?

NEW YORK – The reporter in me finds it more interesting to figure out who's missing in action at a big media event like Microsoft’s Windows Phone 8 announcement rather than focusing on the media hogs.

Among the conspicuous no-shows at Microsoft's extravaganza in San Francisco this week were China’s Huawei and the U.S. carrier Sprint Nextel, whose sale to Japan’s Softbank was announced earlier this month.

Where was Huawei, China's leading telecommunications equipment maker and a legitimate contender in the global wireless market? According to reports, one Huawei executive stated in a blog posted to Sina Weibo, China’s equivalent to Twitter, more than 10 days ago, that the company would skip the Windows Phone 8 launch due to a “Sino-U.S. political and economic storm.”

Unfortunately, we can’t verify this since I haven’t been able to find the alleged blog post on Weibo and a Huawei hasn't replied to our calls for comment.

But it is a fact that Huawei’s handset was not among those displayed by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer during the launch. Microsoft showed Windows Phone 8 handsets by Nokia, Samsung and HTC. There was no mention of Huawei.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer announces Windows Phone 8.

If Huawei’s conspicuous absence at Microsoft’s event was indeed triggered by politics, the cause and effect are easy to trace. A congressional committee earlier this month issued a report accusing Huawei and China's other large telecom gear maker, ZTE, of designing communications equipment that allows unauthorized access by the Chinese government, a charge that has stoked national security concerns along with fears of corporate espionage.

Regardless of the report's conclusions, they have little to do with Windows Phone 8 handsets developed by a Chinese company. Do the accusations in the House report extend even to Huawei somehow trying to wire up Windows Phone 8 for the purposes of espionage?

Got it. Thanks. It's true that Samsung settled with Microsoft. HTC has gotten into a similar arrangement wtih Microsoft.
Google is still fighting.
But I think it's inaccurate to make a sweeping statement and assumption that "most Android phone manufacturers are actually paying a fee to Microsoft for every phone sold to avoid patent lawsuits."
Legal fights are still ongoing, and it's not like Microsoft sued every Android phone manufacturer.

"Paying a fee to Microsoft for every Android phone sold to avoid patent lawsuits?"
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/sep/28/samsung-microsoft-android-licensing-dispute
The Guardian is fairly reliable ;-)

Paying a fee to Microsoft for every Android phone sold to avoid patent lawsuits? I have not heard of that at all. If true, that would be the first...
If you know this for fact, I would like to know. This is unlikely, though, unless MS has some sort of patents that the company asserted, everyone knows about, and everyone needs to pay for.

"wouldn't it perhaps also be that Microsoft windows 8 is not free for OEMs and is not customizable, while Android is? "
Certainly no customizable, but I thought that most Android phone manufacturers are actually paying a fee to Microsoft for every phone sold to avoid patent lawsuits.

Huawei's missing-in-action at Microsoft's event this week may not have much to do with the politics, but rather the company's readiness of the final product.
That said, Jannie Luong, Huawei's spokesperson based in the United States, got back to EE Times and gave us the following official comment -- in regards to comments posted on Weibo by the company's vice president Yu Chengdong:
“Huawei has indeed been unfairly caught up in U.S.-China tensions lately so Mr. Yu’s brief observation is understandable. However, again Huawei Device looks forward to working with Microsoft when it officially launches the Windows Phone. We will provide further information about this shortly.”

Interesting...
wouldn't it perhaps also be that Microsoft windows 8 is not free for OEMs and is not customizable, while Android is? Since Huawei and ZTE seem to like doing their own thing when it comes to Android, perhaps that was a consideration too?
Or maybe they are just being smart and hedging their bets until they see whether Win 8 sinks or swims...